Five Individuals To Be Charged In UK Over Alleged Film Industry Tax Fraud

Britain’s Crown Prosecution Service said today that five people will be charged in connection with a tax relief fraud that allegedly enabled investors in the British film business to offset about £125M in losses. The news comes following an investigation by the UK’s Revenue & Customs, the British equivalent of the IRS, which alleges that between January 1, 2002 and July 11, 2011, a tax break that allows investors to offset losses against other tax liabilities was “abused and dishonestly marketed in order to cheat the public revenue,” the CPS said. “The evidence suggests that the value of allowable losses was falsified, that there was a conspiracy to defraud investors and that documents were falsified for accounting purposes.” The five defendants will each face three charges: conspiracy to cheat the public revenue, conspiracy to defraud and conspiracy to falsify documents, according to the prosecutor. The group has been called to appear in court on June 18. The news comes nearly a year after a brouhaha was kicked up in the UK when Revenue & Customs said that 600 film schemes were under inquiry. The BBC notes that last month, five people were convicted over a tax scam in which they tried to claim £2.8M for a movie they never intended to make.